The Notre-Dame Cathedral remains a Gothic church notable for its flying buttresses and gorgeous stained-glass windows. I believe the Cathedral should be restored to what it originally looked like. This 13th-century landmark represents a significant example of Gothic architecture, and it shouldn’t be modernized. I do understand that many architects possess ideas to modernize it but it should be restored to its primary features. After examining the images made by architects of what the outcome could be, I almost had a change of heart. The ideas they express are incredible, but I believe adding those modern touches changes the spirit of Notre Dame like what Garzuel stated in the article.
Jeron Ryan: Reconstructed Notre Dame
This was a great question. I believe that the Notre Dame Cathedral should be rebuilt with a similar gothic design as before, but with a modern touch. I like the idea of using sustainable, environmentally friendly materials in the construction process because as things are constituted now, construction processes can be very detrimental to the environment. Also, along with the new, more modern touch to the structure there should be a plaque or item that commemorates the older structure before the fire, while also providing context as to why a more modern touch was added to the cathedral. I really liked the plan put forth by Vincent Callebaut Architectures making use of the gothic architectural style, along with adding a biomimetic forest for the cathedral.
http://vincent.callebaut.org/zoom/projects/190503_tributetonotredame/tributetonotredame_pl000.jpg
Jeron Ryan
HW2: How Would You Rebuild a Gothic Church?
On April 15, 2019, a massive fire broke out in Paris’s Cathedral of Notre Dame. Immortalized in Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, this church is considered by many to be the spiritual heart of the nation of France. The destructive fire ravaged the roof of the building and toppled the steeple, but the relics (such as the objects of religious veneration that we studied in class) were saved. The project to restore the church has begun but there is much debate over how it should be rebuilt. Should the French rebuild a Gothic church? or should they build a modern one? Listen and look at the photos of some ideas for the rebuilding of Notre Dame on NPR (https://tinyurl.com/yxe4xmhc).
Write a 100-word post sharing your thoughts on the rebuilding of this Gothic church. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR POSTS BY MONDAY November 18 Midnight (Same DUE DATE as your in-class powerpoint presentation of the 4-icons assignment)
Reminder: Please submit Paper #2 on Blackboard
This is a reminder to please submit paper #2 on Blackboard. This is the 4-icons paper, which is modeled on Kyle Tezak’s 4 Icon Challenge. Paper #2 is DUE on Monday 11/11 by midnight. If you have lost the instructions, you can find directions for paper #2 here.
You need to submit 2 files. Your paper with the 4 icons and a Powerpoint file that follows the directions. I will download your Powerpoint file to the classroom computer in preparation for your presentation, which takes place one week later.
Quiz 3 on Monday Nov 4
Quiz 3 will cover South Asian and Southeast Asian Art, Islamic Art through Medieval Art to the Reliquary Statue of Saint Foy.
Here are the terms for Quiz 3:
relic
reliquary
mosque
Shiva
temple
yakshi
interlace
illuminated manuscript
scribe
monastery
Quiz 2 on Monday October 21st
The quiz will cover material from Greek (Praxiteles, Aprodite of Knidos) to Byzantine Art. The quiz will be at the beginning of class about 11:30-12 noon.
The terms portion of the quiz may include the following:
Classical Orders: doric/Tuscan doric, Ionic, Corinthian
oculus
amphitheater
contrapposto
basilica
catacomb
fresco
iconoclasm
Know the plans for a latin-cross and central-plan, be able to identify the aisle, nave, and apse
HW1: How Evil was Commodus?
Commodus was a very evil man, and according to the text, it seems as though he enjoyed torturing and killing people. Commodus seems to be obsessed with becoming a god or as powerful and as strong as one, it is visible in his statue with the lion over his head and a bat in his hand. This is evident when he started allowing statues of him dressed as Hercules to be put up and worshiped. He then started worshiping Isis and forced devotees of her to harm themselves even to the point of death at times. He also renamed one of the months Hercules and appointed someone to the priesthood of the Rural Hercules, which was a private cult he was in.
To be perceived as powerful, Commodus would torture, killing and embarrass others. Commodus cast anyone who spoke against him to be eaten by a beast (most likely lion). He also killed a man because he read a book that was written by some who had the same birthday as him. He also put birds on a greying man’s head so that the birds would peck at it thinking it was worms. The text also states that it is claimed that he mixed human feces with lavish foods and ate it. lastly, he made his praetor Julianus dance naked in front of his mistresses while clashing cymbals.
HW1#: How Evil was Commodus? – by Garnet Garcia
It was rather difficult to make it through most of the article, mainly because the things this man did was so unfathomably gruesome that I had to stop every now and then just to stomach what I had read. Is it the worst behavior I’ve ever seen? Probably not; I’ve seen similar displayed in movies and shows that aim to either reflect or exaggerate behaviors such as this one. However, there is something jarring about reading this as the behavior of an actual human being who lived as opposed to just watching some actor play out a character in Game of Thrones or Gladiator.
Vile is an accurate description, but the word that came to mind for me more often was deranged. It was said in class that he was not the worst of the emperors. That’s actually terrifying. There’s something exceedingly childish about his behavior; it’s as if someone gave a sociopathic 10-year-old all the power in the world and let him do what he pleased. The child has no conscious and only knows his selfish desires no matter how inhumane or insane. It says there was no respect for anyone no matter the ability or status, which means no matter who you were or what you did, you could easily be his next victim.
Olando Alexis: How Evil Was Commodus?
After reading the entire article on the life of Commodus I would have to say that Commodus bought a new meaning to evil. The fact that it started out in the womb made it worst. It was said that his mother had a dream about two serpents and that one was fiercer than the other. Commodus happened to grow up spoiled and also fouled mouthed as described in the article. Starting from a young age, the first time that it was noted that he was cruel was when he sent a serpent to burn into a furnace after his bath appeared to be too cool. It also intrigues me how he was able to put many people to death with just his will and status. The craziest part is that barely anyone dared to stand against him due to his status. I also think that those who were around him that had authority had a huge role in his evil intentions because they were al ridiculed and decided to go along with whatever was said by Commodus. another thing that surprises me is how he was able to murder people with no remorse. An example could be when he put servants to death just because they made a correctable mistake and when he would put others to death based on his opinion and because he felt as if they were threats or had some kind special quirk. He also treated the opposite sex as play toys or factors of pleasure. He had no care and was clearly unfit to rule a whole nation.
How evil was Commodus? by Musarat Merchant
I am utterly disgusted after read this article, this man is beyond the definition of “evil” in my opinion. Commodus has done the evilest things that one can ever imagine! First he thinks of him as a God and makes forces people to treat him like one. He is highly delusional about his pathetic self. If I was living in his reign of terror, I’d much rather prefer to die instead of living in a hell that he created for the people back in his day.
He brutally killed every other being for the most stupidest reasons. And many times he killed people just beacuse they were attractive or nobles. He named his minions after sexual parts of both men and women, which I think is very very disrespectful. I even hated the part where he slit opened someone’s stomach and gushed out the intestines. He has poked someone’s eye, he has cut people’s arms and legs, he has tortured bare breasts of women and what not. I wonder if there’s even a rank in the actual hell for a human being – such disgusting?
